LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Jeff Brohm led the University of Louisville football team to 10 regular-season victories last season. The wise guys had the Cardinals down for 8.
Las Vegas rewarded Brohm for that performance the same way that coaches everywhere are rewarded today: By expecting more, more, more.
Several over/under win totals are posted for the 2024 college football season. The number I found for Louisville is 8 1/2.
I’ll pause here for a crinkled nose.
Not because I doubt Louisville can win nine or more games next season. I don’t understand how you can forecast how many games that any team will win when the roster changes faster than the down marker.
Louisville played its spring game Friday night at L&N Cardinal Stadium. The Offense outlasted the Defense, 45-37, in a scoring system that won’t be used when the games become real next fall.
But predicting what kind of season Louisville will have after watching about two hours of scrimmaging?
Good luck with that. The story that raged before the game was about guys who slipped into the transfer portal before the spring game was played, including halfback Peny Boone, who came from Toledo and left for parts unknown before he conquered. Nobody should flinch when more names go and others arrive in the coming weeks.
Spring practice is over. Fine-tuning the roster for next season has just begun. Ask Brohm. I did.
“I understand how it works,” he said. “We’re going to have people that maybe aren't on the depth chart where they want right now that it's probably in your best interest to maybe to look around.
“We're gonna have others that we want to keep here that we feel good about where they're going, but maybe it's not happening fast enough and they may choose to go somewhere else.
“So you know, you gotta continue to recruit just in case. There's a lot of movement and a lot of things shaken up. So that makes it challenging because it's been a busy week.
“It'll be an even busier week as we progress forward. But in the end, you want a group of guys that understand that.
“It's time to start jelling as a team and doing your part and understanding that it’s going to take everybody whether you're the star player or role player or somebody who just is maybe half a year or a year away, you still gotta grind this thing out and play together and not get frustrated and try to compare all these things.”
As for what happened on the field …
Tyler Shough, the quarterback Louisville landed from the transfer portal after last season, connected with Chris Bell on a 75-yard touchdown pass on the game’s first play. Bell eluded a cornerback and crackled down the left sideline.
“Chris Bell has stepped up his game and he needs to,” Brohm said. “He works very hard. He puts in the time and the work and it shows.”
The chemistry between Shough and Bell was excellent. Bell caught three of the eight passes that Shough completed, scoring twice while gaining 126 yards.
“Chris was making big plays all over all night,” Shough said. “He’s an easy target when he’s getting separation like that.”
On the second series Pierce Clarkson planted himself in the pocket and found Jaedon King behind the secondary in the middle the field. King bobbled the ball once, steadied, wrapped both hands on the ball and eased into the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown.
Defensive starters Ashton Gillotte and Quincy Riley said that Shough has established himself as a team leader with the force of his personality.
“It wasn’t a rough transition,” Gillotte said. “He’s made himself availale to a lot of people. Really, it’s been seamless.”
Now the coaching staff will start the transition to the next part of building toward the 2024 season, figuring out which guys will enter the transfer portal and if the Cards need to add any players.
“Can you improve on 10 wins?” U of L athletic director Josh Heird said. “I know that some people will say that we didn’t finish strong but we still won 10 games.”
The schedule is more formidable than the 2023 schedule. The home game/road game split is six and six. Last season the split was seven/five — and two of the road games were not played in the opposing team’s regular home venue.
Of the dozen teams Louisville plays, nine delivered winning records. Eight of the 11 FBS opponents finished their seasons in bowls and the sole FCS opponent (Austin Peay) went 9-3 and made the NCAA playoffs. Three teams — Notre Dame, SMU and Clemson — were ranked in the final AP Top 25.
The season will begin Aug. 31, the first of a three-game opening stretch at home with Austin Peay, Jacksonville State and Georgia Tech.
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